Carrie is here!!! :D

Wednesday:
It's Orientation week this week!  All the newbees are going around to all the different clubs & the stations they have set up all over campus.  There are literally hundreds of them!!  Since I've already gotten to know the campus quite well & have already join a Christian group on campus here called Student Life, I decided to stay at the Student Life both & talk to freshmen about Jesus! We were there from 9-4 and what we basically did was ask people to fill out a short 4 question survey in exchange for some candy (how could one resist?!).  The first 2 questions were miscellaneous and the last 2 pertained to faith & Christianity.  So as students filled out the first two we'd start small talk, then by the 3rd we start talking about Christianity & what they believe and so on.  What a brilliant approach! I was able to talk to sooo many people from every religion, and even learned about a few religions I didn't even know existed!  I had talked to the head of this ministry and he told me that 1 in 4 people are seriously interested in knowing more about Jesus, of those who are interested & actually begin to attend classes & club events about half completely give their life to Jesus!  I was amazed at how many people were legitimately interested & curious!  I was also able to meet a ton of other Christians that are apart of the group which was a huge blessing to me as well!

At 4 I headed to Central station and picked up CARRIE! She's visiting me for the weekend.  I haven't seen her in a month!  It's SO nice to have her here and just be our crazy old selves together!  We headed back to my dorm & got settled in then headed out to show her around my area a bit.  We walked down King St. and got some burgers & I showed her the Gelato Shop I might be working at!  Then we headed back to my room & drank the energy drinks she had brought for us.  I haven't really had caffeine in a longgg time so it realllly gave me energy! haha

This morning We're going to head to campus & I get to show Carrie my Hogwarts school :)

Up up and away!

The rest of Sunday I decided to head to the Royal Botanical Gardens and spend some alone time.  I knew it was a long walk to begin with, but I ended up getting lost so it took me a little over an hour to walk there... haha.  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!  The scents alone were enough to make me feel like I was in heaven!  I uploaded a lot of the flowers with mini bios about them on FB (I miss learning so I decided to take some notes on each one!).  I also happened to run into film festival that was happening in the park.  There were hundreds of people on their blankets surrounding three main screens and a stage!  They had a few bands playing so I decided to stay for two of them.  I ended up getting to the very front of the crowd and the band was really good!  I thought about staying for the films but since I had been walking all day and couldn't feel my feet/legs I decided it would be a good idea to head home before I got too exhausted!

Monday:  I had orientation from 9-4.  We were in the great hall which literally reminded me of Harry Potter! haha  It was in the Quadrangle which is a sure building with a grass court in the center.  It's absolutely beautiful!  After that I decided to print off some more resume's, had some dinner then headed down to King street with a smile to talk to some more managers farther down the street.  By the end of the day I was pretty tired so I went back to my room, skyped Carrie and found out that she is going to be visiting me from Wednesday afternoon- Sunday afternoon!  I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE HER!!!!!  I've got orientation week all week but it's stuff we get to do when we want so I can work my stuff around our plans!  Now I just need to start planning our amazing weekend, there's just soooo much in Sydney I want her to see I don't know where to begin!!  After that I watched a movie, played some tetris and went to bed.

Today:  I had orientation from 9-noon today.  Today they explained academic info more specifically.  A lot of international students don't have the classes they want approved yet or have clashes in their schedules etc so it was more for them.  I have all of my classes that I needed and wanted approved.  I also found out that I have the BEST schedule ever!!  None of my classes begin before 10am, I'm done by 3 on Mon, Tues & Thurs; done by noon on Weds and no classes on Fridays!!  This is gonna be a gooood semester :)

After all that I went to the library to print off my sched and a few more resumes to go to Broadway (which is a longer walk away, but there are more shops & opportunities there).  I headed back to my room for some lunch & received a call from a Gelato Shop that liked my resume!!  I had spoken to the manager briefly yesterday when I was walking down King street, and the same manager had called me today!  She invited me in for a trial run (here they don't have interviews, they invite you in for a trial run for about 3 hrs where they teach you what you need to know in the first hour then watch & judge your performance for the other 2 hrs, then at the end of your trial they tell you weather or not you've been hired).  So on Thursday night I've got my first trial!  I really hope I get to work there.  It's owned by and Italian family & the manager let me know that I was the only one that was going to be hired outside of the family, which made me feel pretty good! :)

Now I'm about to have lunch, then around 3 Marls (who I thought was named Miles for the past 3 days... his full name is Marlon but people call him Marls, which with the Aussie accent translates to what sounds like Miles.  Accents are confusing lol) who I met at church this last Sunday, has invited me to hang out & meet his housemates, all of which go to Sydney Uni so I'm excited to make some new friends!

I feel like everything is starting to fall into place.  It's funny how once I just let go & let God he amazes me every time!

God Blows My Mind

Yesterday I spent pretty much the entirety of the day in my room just reading and relaxing.   At night I was able to Skype my roommate Carrie for about 2.5 hrs which was SUCH a huge blessing!  Carrie is studying at the University of Canberra, AU and it's just really nice to be able to talk to someone who is experiencing life with you, even if it's a different location.  She is such a blessing and encouragement to me in every way humanly possible!  So I went to bed feeling pretty loved and happy :)

This morning I woke up at about 8am and had my heart set on finding some sort of church.  I had walked by a couple Catholic Churches that I noted mentally but they were all at least a half our walk and I was still on the search for a nondenominational or contemporary church.  So I decided to get onto good ol' Google Maps and did a couple of searches.  I was able to find about 3 churches within a half hour walking radius of me so I pulled up their web sites and did some comparisons & read their vision statements and ministries.  After some research I made the decision that I was headed to Eternity Christian Church which was about a 20 min walk.  I got all dolled up and headed down that way.  At first I was a but skeptical of the place because it was off of a main road down a quite street in an area I was completely unfamiliar with.  I got inside and it was a medium sized room with a bunch of chairs set up & the worship band was still warming up.

I was immediately greeted with smiles, handshakes & name exchanges which made me feel at ease for walking into such a small space.  I sat down in a row behind a guy who looked about my age, once he had seen me coming he immediately introduced himself as Miles & asked me all of the normal welcoming questions.  Miles was also a Junior (or 3rd year as they say here) who went to Sydney Uni & was studying Math.  We kept up small talk until he was called to do something in the back then he came and sat by me right before the service started.  He was so kind and welcoming and made it a point to introduce me to everyone around us at all times.  Miles is apart of an on campus ministry group, very similar to Campus Crusades and was able to connect me to the leader of the campus ministry who happened to attend that church as well!  Then the service started and to my surprise I knew all of the worship songs they sang and to be honest it just felt like heaven to be in a place where I was surrounded with Christians and from the looks and sounds of things, they were on fire for God too!

The worship & sermon was fantastic and there was just this way about this church that one could tell that it was very Spirit led.  After the sermon there was an alter call for those who felt like they needed a renewal of the Holy Spirit.  Throughout the entire service I was at the verge of tears because I was just so happy to have found this amazing place.  After my internal struggle as to whether I wanted to step up front since I was the new girl, I decided to throw away my pride and doubt and go up front.  The minute I got there I broke out into tears that just wouldn't stop, I could barely sing the worship so I just stopped and prayed silently. I was the last one to go up front so I was the last that the Pastor prayed for.  Right before the pastor started praying for me an elderly woman approached us and told the pastor that she had a word for me.  She told me, "God has equipped you with all the right tools, he has developed you exactly the way you are for a purpose.  You need to throw away all of the fear that you have inside. God has ordained the words that you are going to speak in the conversations with your classmates at Sydney Uni, you haven't come here just as a student but God has sent you here as a disciple and had equipped you to do his work.  Do not doubt yourself or what God is doing" 

I went from lightly crying to sobbing.  I have never met this woman in my entire life and I never told her I was going to Sydney Uni or that I was studying abroad.  Everything she had said was exactly what I needed to hear and even though I wouldn't normally admit it I have totally been doubting God and who I am for the past week or so.  The pastor and his wife then prayed over me until I stopped crying & felt the complete peace of the Lord over me.  Absolutely amazing.  Then the pastors wife gave me a long hard hug.  I've been praying for a hug because I've gone through a hug drought.  Haven't had a hug in two weeks!

After that I sat down for a little bit, then gathered my stuff to head back to juice and cookies.  As I was walking back toward the table I had said a little selfish prayer that someone here would be kind enough to take me out to lunch because I am so broke and haven't had a full hearty meal in a loong time.  Miles introduced me to a couple of other people and I feel like I just hit it off with every single person I shook hands with!  We chatted it up for about half an hour after the service then a bunch of people were going out to eat.  I didn't really have money to spend on going out but I agreed to go out anyways.  We drove (I havent been in a car here yet so it was crazy being on the other side of the road!) to this Thai restaurant that they apparently go to like every other week.  When we got there Miles leaned over and told me that my meal was on him so I didn't have to worry about it.  I was so shocked and happy, I was choking back tears again haha.  There was about 8 of us that went out together and just laughed and had conversation. I felt so comfortable with this group, like I had known them my entire life but it had only been about an hour.  It was the first time that I have felt completely and utterly myself since leaving home.  PRAISE GOD!

Miles is helping out with O-week so I gave him my email and he said that I could come help out if I didn't have anything to do this week, which I don't so it was absolutely perfect!  I had also explained to him how desperate I was for a job so he's going to ask his work place if they'll hire me too.  He also explained a bit more of what the campus ministries do and I am so excited to become apart of it!  The young adults also come together for dinner, worship & testimonies every week, so it looks like I've just found myself a new family!  One of the girls, Katrina told me that they like to do something after church pretty much every week and next week they were going to serve lunch & and go door to door in the building complex where a lot of people with disabilities live, right after I had explained my passion for my jobs working with the disabled at home!

After lunch we all headed our different ways.  Turns out that this entire group of friends love to hug too so I go 8 more hugs! 9 hugs in one day!! :)  I was only about 2 blocks from my dorm so I just walked back.

I am just so overwhelmed for how faithful God truly is.  Completely overwhelmed!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Birds Hate Me

So yesterday was a successful day at the beach!  We had to walk about 3 miles to the Sydney harbor to hop on a ferry for about 20 min then walk to Manly Beach, it was quite the trek but it was so worth it!  The first half of the day was really cloudy but after about noon the sun came out to play!  We all got super dark since AU doesn't have an ozone layer, that wasn't very hard to accomplish.  Playing in the ocean was so fun, super salty, but so fun!  There were soooo many surfers out and at times it was hard to make sure we didn't get in their way.  I want to learn so so bad and Manly looked like a good place to learn because there were surfers of all different levels.

I hadn't eaten much of a breakfast that morning so by lunch time I was absolutely starving.  I decided to save some cash and just get a small value meal at Hungry Jack's (AU's version of Burger King) while some of my friends got some middle eastern kabbabs.  Since there were so many seagulls hovering around the beach we decided to sit on some stairs that led to the beach... but those seagulls were smarter than we thought.  Within seconds of sitting down we were completely surrounded by them and their piercing eyes set on our food.  I was holding my burger like it was my life lol.  Unfortunately after I took the first bite a seagull came from behind me, flew between Mandy and I, grabbed the burger right out of my very hands (and bit me in the process) and about 20 seagulls devoured it in under 4 seconds.   My friend Kyrstin who saw the whole thing happen from across the beach proceded to point and laugh at my loudly as everyone was already staring at me and laughing.  I was in complete shock and heartbroken that I didn't get to eat the burger I was looking forward to alllll day!   Mandy was nice enough to split her meal with me so I could have something to eat though so it all works out I guess.  After lunch we went back out on the beach and played with the hermit crabs, waves & shells for a while.  At one point we were all just sitting there taling when we noticed that there was a huge flock of seagulls just flying in a circle above us.  It was kinda a cool sight... until one pooped alllll over my leg so naturally I screamed, "it pooped on my leg" and ran toward the showers.  Once again the entire beach was laughing at me.  I was just their entertainment for the day. lol

After we took the ferry back I stopped by the grocery store an picked us a few things considering My fridge was literally completely empty.  By the time I had made the long trek back to my dorm I was so exhausted but it was finally Friday night so a couple of us got all dressed up and had a little night out on the town!

Today's been a pretty lazy day. It's 4:30 and I haven't left my room once today.  I've been feeling kinda sick lately so I'm just going to relax today and do some reading... possibly in the park.

Mr. Golden Sun

Wednesday: Checked out Sydney Harbor, uploaded lots of pics!  I've decided that for the first few weeks here I'm allowed to take ridiculous pictures like a tourist... but after that I'm going to become a native. We didn't have enough time to explore all of the Botanical gardens so that'll have to be for another day.  We walked through a small portion of it and by the looks & smells of things I feel that it could occupy my entire day.  Walking around downtown is so fun, there is a new surprise around literally every corner!  One thing I've noticed is that Aussies don't waist space.  Everywhere you look they have turned something ordinary, such as pretty much all of their boardwalks and under bridges, into something extraordinary!  It's so inspiring, I wish I had some sort of means to create art here but I had to leave all the paints & fabrics at home... lol.  At the end of the night I had a migraine so I just watched a movie in my bed and had an early bed time.

Thursday:  Woke up early for a job interview!  Unfortunately it was a commission job and I know it would just be a waste of time, soI tured it down & I'm still searching.  It was finally SUNNY like all day!! The forecast had said it was going to storm in the evening to we resisted the temptation to head to the beach.  We spent a lot of time just laying outside reading book, magazines & listening to music in the park.  I found out that it cost $4.50 to wash a load of laundry & like $1.50 for every 8min. of drying clothes... so I just hand washed all of my clothes in the shower with me and hung them up to dry!  I felt so funny showering with all my clothes around me, my mother would be proud!! haha

Today:  Somehow I still wake up at 8am every morning like clockwork.  I guess I'll appreciate that once classes begin but for now I wish I could just sleep in!  Orientation doesn't begin until Monday still... I'm becoming impatient (once again learning patience!!).  I haven't been in a classroom for 2 months now.  Normally around this time in the summer I'm going crazy waiting for school to start so it makes sense that I'm getting anxious.
Well we're off to try the beach today (although the sky is completely gray and doesn't look to promising.. .) let's hope for the best!

"Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong"

Yesterday morning Mandy, Erica and I went to the library with our COE (Certificates of Enrollment) and Passports to attempt to get a Unikey which would allow us to get on the internet and do pretty much everything we need to on this campus.  We had gone in two days ago but they had initially said that they couldn’t help us without a student ID of which we has on our COE and in my case which was in my email inbox, which I could not get because I did not have internet.  Such a frustrating conundrum!  Anywho today we were finally able to get our id numbers, usernames & passwords so we got on the computers in the library instantly for free!  It was SUCH  a nice discovery!  I was finally able to print out my resume (here no one fills out applications they just hand in résumé’s and hope to be called!).  Erika & Mandy decided to go back down to Broadway & I headed to King St. (which is closer to our dorm so I wanted to start handing in apps there).  I walked about 4 blocks down, with a ton of people turning me downs.  Apparently it’s not a good time for AU’s economy either because a lot of places were in the process of firing, not hiring… L but I was able to find a restaurant, a tea store & a café to take my resume.  I was able to talk to the assistant manager at T2 (a tea shop) and she seemed really interested in hiring me… I hope I get to work there.  It seems like a really cool place, filled with the scent of tea, which I LOVE  so it would be absolutely perfect!  It was nice to have some alone time just to walk around.

As I was walking around looking for a job I stopped into a couple of bookstores looking for a Bible (because I had forgot mine at home, literally just sitting on my bed).  For some odd reason I felt really odd asking if a place sold Bibles so for the first three places I decided to search the entire place myself instead of asking.  I finally got to the fourth store and was hot and tired of searching so I did a little looking but just asked the clerk if they sold Bibles.  She gave me a strange look and said, “I haven’t a clue if we have Bibles” So she took me to the mystical & religious section & looked around with me.  No luck.  I then proceeded to ask her where I could find one because I’ve been to three different stores.  I was beginning to wonder if they only sold Bibles at Churches or on Religious grounds or something like that.  She told me that she had no idea where I could buy a Bible and proceeded to explain that this wasn’t a really religious area & no one had ever asked her about Bibles before.  I felt as if someone had just put a sword through my heart.  The minute she said that the slight demonic presence I had felt upon arriving in this area had just multiplied 10 fold and I knew I needed to get out of that Bookstore.  When a store has 8 shelves of Science Mysticism and no Bibles, that’s when you know something’s wrong.  I walked rather quickly down the street realizing that my heart was pounding so fast it was about to explode.  What if I never found a Bible?  It’s been one week and I feel like I’m going insane with out it, what is 5 months going to do to me?  How am I going to be empowered to have an impact on this place if I cannot read God’s heart?  As all these thoughts were speeding through my head I came to an intersection, the green light went on for the heard of walkers so I proceeded with the group, in the distance I could see yet another book store.  I figured I’d give it one last try.

            I entered Elizabeth’s Bookshop with low expectations but since this store was a bit larger it gave me a glimpse of hope.  I began searching the store instead of asking this time in an attempt to procrastinate my devastation upon the reality that they most likely didn’t own any.  I came across the Religious section and to my surprise there were three Bibles!  One was a Catholic Study Bible, then next was another Catholic version of the bible and the last was the New Testament Good News Bible.  I picked it up thinking, although it didn’t have the Old Testament, some Bible is better than no Bible!  I opened it to make sure there wasn’t anything strange about it and the first thing my eyes came across was the Paul’s final words at the end of 1^st Corinthians, “Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong.  Do all your work in Love.”

            Instant tears down my face.  Luckily I was in the back of the bookshop so no one was able to see me.  It was exactly what I had needed to hear, the exact comfort my heart needed to feel.  What an awesome God.  I knew I needed to get it.  I was completely broke, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to move forward without it.  So I bought it.  The most expensive New Testament I’ve every gotten, $13.  That’s how much I paid for the NT, the same NT that American churches condense into pocket-sized books and throw around like candy.  But it was worth every penny.  Praise God.

The Inconvience of Convienence

If there is one thing that this trip has taught me it most definitly PATIENCE!

I finally got my phone yesterday & was able to make some phone calls.  Voices of encouragment meant the world to me! I still don't have internet in my room but I finally have a username & password so I can use the internet at the library.  There's still a week until orientation so this week it's job seachin & touristing time!  I'll be uploasding pic's once I get to chance!  I haven't really gotten the chance to make any Aussie Friends yet because they don't come back to school till next week... time moves so slowly when there's so much free time!

It's been pretty gloomy & rainy these past couple days & even a little cold but later on the sun will come out and I will go play!

In America we have free Wi-Fi at every corner, we complain the minute our phones don't have service, we have Super Targets, our one stop shop for everything on our lists & our society resolves around customer service where we want to make sure that everyone is happy and satisfied.  Here Wi Fi is expensive, phones are expensive (pretty much everything is expensive since they have a minimum wage of about $17... that changes a but...).  They don't have one-stop-shops for our convience so we have to go to each individual store, all of which is about a 15 min. walk from where I am, keeping in mind that I need to carry everything I buy home with me at the end of the day.

At first I just felt like everything here was so Inconvienint, there is no such thing as customer service here, they could care less if you weren't satisfied with their services because they know that we have no other choice but to buy things at thier stores.  What a rude lifestyle!  As I began thinking about it it's not their life style that's the problem, it's mine!  I have been spoiled my entire life, haveing everything just waiting for me at my call.  I am beginning to see the beautify in having to take a ridiculously long trip just to buy shampoo, the beauty of this community where people work to live & not live to work.  A phrase that I really enjoy is, (Said in an aussie accent) "She'll be right" meaning everythings going to be alright, there's no need to stress.  How beautiful.

God's speaking to me in an aussie accent & saying, "She'll be right".

Week 1

It is already the second week and this is the first time I’ve finally been alone with enough time and space to reflect.  This past week has been an absolute blast!  Here’s a rundown of what activities I’ve done this past week

Sun: Arrive in Brisbane at 6:45AM at the Hostel with 70 other US students also studying at University of Sydney.  Hang out around hostel with Jet lag.  Had Kangaroo for lunch, swam at the pool, walked around down town and just chilled.  Met some really awesome people tooo!

Mon:  Went to the Koala Sanctuary (the biggest Koala sanctuary in the WORLD!) it was SO amazing!! Got to hold a koala and hang out with kangaroos. Literally hang out with kangaroos!  They had a whole field filled with them and we could just walk into the gate of the field and feed them and pet them and just chill with them!  It was the one of the most amazing experiences ever!  Then we went to the riverfront for the Brisbane River where we had lunch.  Then we had some Aboriginal men perform a few native dances.  I was in the very back so I couldn’t really see all of it, which was kinda a bummer but it was till interesting to see their dances, songs and body paints as well.  Next we all jumped into kayaks and went up the river.  The current was reallllly strong so it was a pretty good work out.  After that we went out for dinner.  I was still pretty jet lagged so after dinner I just hang around the hostel and went to bed early

Tues: FREE DAY!  Some people went to the Gold Coast but it was pretty rainy so I decided not to.  A couple of us just walked around Brisbane, hit up the mall & made dinner together.  We were a little family for the day!

Wed:  We planted trees and weeded a forest area that was destroyed by the flooding pretty much all day.  We went back to the hostel for dinner, then just hung out and went to bed early.

Thurs: We got up real early and headed to the rainforest!  It was about a 1.5 hr drive away, wayyy up the mountains.  We had some tour guides but my group was so big that I ended up discovering most of the forest on my own with a couple friends. It was seriously the most amazing sight I have ever seen!   It was such a huge area and the nature was absolutely breath taking.  It is not even something I could possibly explain in words.  Pictures only capture a brief bit of how amazing this sight was!  We went to 5 different paths and walked about a mile at each.  One of the locations included a skywalk, so we were walking through the tops of the trees, SO amazing! After that we had dinner on our own & walked around the city late at night because we were still starving haha.  The city was so gorgeous at night!  We walked around the mall area again, which is more of a strip mall the consumes about 4 blocks in the center of the city, all lit up with different colors!

Fri:  Got up early & caught my flight to Sydney. After we got our room assignments a couple of us decided to check out the area so we roamed a bit then went and bought some necessities.  I am living in a dorm building about a 5 min. walk from campus.  I have my own double sized bed, own bathroom & shower, mini fridge and microwave!  This wasn’t my first choice of living, but after spending the last week living in a hostel with 6 girls and sharing 3 toilets & 3 showers with an entire floor of females, I am praising God for this safe haven away from everything!!

Reflections:  It has been pretty difficult being the only practicing Christian around.  I have found one other person who is Catholic who has pretty much the same beliefs as I do but I haven’t gotten the chance to really form a relationship with her.  It is so crazy how different the real world is from the Bethel Bubble I have been living in for the past three years.  This experience has already opened my eyes so much to the ways of this world.  Pretty much all of my friends right now are not practicing Christians and I am fine with having non-Christian friends, it’s just hard for me to figure out how to minister to them when I feel so out numbered.  There have definitely been times of doubt in my mind as to why God has sent me here, but time and time again He has reassured me that this is where he wants me to be.

 I left home extremely nervous and for the past week I haven’t really felt like I have been myself.  Partly because I felt like I was a t a camp that I didn’t find all that necessary & partly because by day 2 I was just frustrated with living in suitcase.  Normally AustraLearn does their orientation week up in Cairns, AU but because of the cyclone our group had to be moved to Brisbane so our week was kina thrown together at the last minute and really  disorganized which frustrated me as well as pretty much everyone in the group…. But that’s over now and I am glad to be almost unpacked!

Everything here is ridiculously expensive. It is $18 for mascara.  Looks like I’m going to be going make-up free!! Haha  The heat is also ridiculous.  I feel like I’ve already lost weight from all the walking & sweating I’ve been doing! My feet hurt real bad too. Lol

I am really excited to see what this next week will look like… I’ve got 10 days before orientation for my University starts so I’m pretty much just hanging out and going to the beach!  I’m trying to find a job this week too, so if you could keep that in your prayers that would be awesome!

This is the most I am capable of writing at one point. I’ll try and blog more often so ya’ll don’t have to read as much! ;)